Samsung Unpacked 2024: Galaxy Ring, new folding phones, Watch Ultra and more announced
Samsung has just announced a series of new AI-powered Galaxy products at its summer Unpacked 2024 event in Paris, including the launch of an all-new wearable – the Galaxy Ring.
It also unveiled two new folding phones – the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 – as well as a new extreme sport-focused Galaxy Watch Ultra smartwatch to rival the Apple Watch Ultra, plus the Galaxy Watch 7, Galaxy Buds 3 and Buds 3 Pro.
Here’s everything you need to know about all the latest products announced by Samsung at its Galaxy Unpacked event, including its latest innovations in AI.
Samsung Galaxy Ring
Highly anticipated, the Samsung Galaxy Ring is a passive health tracker for your finger. First announced in January, the titanium bling is set to challenge the market-dominating Oura Ring when it launches later this month.
Boasting a wireless charging earbuds-like case, the Galaxy Ring can monitor the wearer’s heart rate, sleep quality and has a skin temperature sensor for tracking menstrual cycles and fertility windows. It can also automatically track walks and runs.
Powered by Galaxy AI, Samsung will pull together all the data the ring receives to give you an overall Energy Score, a Sleep Score that tells you how well you slept, as well as personalised wellness tips based on your health goals.
Interestingly, you’ll be able to perform double pinch gestures to take photos remotely and snooze or stop alarms, and like a smartwatch, you’ll get inactivity alerts if you’ve been sitting down for too long. It’ll work with any Android 11 phone, but works better with a Samsung Galaxy device.
Coming in nine different sizes (5 to 13), it costs £399 – more than the Oura Ring – but significantly, doesn’t require a monthly subscription to access your data and wellness tips. It launches on 24 July.
Read more: Samsung Galaxy Ring hands-on review: Is this the Oura ring killer?
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6
Samsung’s line of folding phones has entered its sixth year and, as with previous iterations, the upgrades to the hardware aren’t huge. All the most interesting stuff is in the software.
The latest Galaxy Fold 6 has just a few minor tweaks to keep it current for 2024. It runs on the newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and uses a 1.6x larger vapour chamber for improved performance during more demanding tasks.
The screen is also ever so slightly shorter and wider, addressing concerns about Samsung’s cover display feeling too narrow in the hand. It also has a brushed metal finish around the rings surrounding the camera. The cameras itself, however, are unchanged, as well as the battery. It launches on 24 July for £1,799 and up, and comes in blue, silver and pink.
The smaller Galaxy Z Flip 6 has received a more significant hardware upgrade compared to the Fold 6, gaining a better camera and a bigger battery while keeping its compact form factor.
It now boasts a 50MP camera, the same one found in Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S24 Plus, which should deliver better night time photos. It also has a bigger 4,000mAh battery on the inside. Like the Fold 6, it runs on the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and gets a vapour chamber for the first time, helping to keep performance running at its peak.
The Galaxy Z Flip 6 launches on 24 July and starts from £1,049. It comes in blue, silver, yellow and green.
Look past the hardware, and you’ll find a suite of Galaxy AI features that give the folding phones a real boost. New to Galaxy AI is Sketch to Image, for example, lets you doodle on your photos and have your drawing appear as a photorealistic edit. Samsung demonstrated it by sketching some glasses on a dog.
Other features that are already on the S24, such as Live Translate, Note Assist (which transcribes and translates meetings) and more intelligent suggested replies will also be coming to the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6.
Read more: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Fold 6: Our first impressions review
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch 7
Samsung also announced two new smartwatches at its Galaxy Unpacked event – an upgraded Galaxy Watch 7 and an all-new extreme sport-focused Galaxy Watch Ultra. Both of the smartwatches are the first wearables to run on Wear OS 5.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra is the company’s answer to the Apple Watch Ultra, featuring a more rugged design with a larger, brighter display and a longer battery life. The case is made from titanium, can withstand extreme temperatures in hot and cold environments and depths of up to 100m.
Triathletes can hook the smartwatch up to a power meter, and it’s smart enough to know when runners are at the start of a route. It also features a brand new quick action button that can be programmed to do a number of things. You can long press, double tap and single tap to perform various actions.
Available in one size – 47mm (slightly smaller than the Apple Watch Ultra), it launches on 24 July, costing £599. It comes in grey, white or silver, and comes with LTE as standard.
The Galaxy Watch 7 is a more iterative upgrade, but should be more powerful than before. It features the world’s first 3nm processor, making it three times faster than the Galaxy Watch 6 and is fitted with a bioactive sensor, improving the overall accuracy of the watch.
You also get new stitched sports bands to pair with your watch, and it will continue to track 90 different activities, suggested replies and double pinch gesture support.
Available in either Bluetooth or LTE versions, it launches on 24 July and prices start from £299. You can get it in either 40mm or 44mm and in either green and silver or green and cream.
Read more: Samsung has launched the all-new Galaxy Watch 7 series – we had a first look
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro
Both of Samsung’s Galaxy earbuds have had radical redesigns for 2024. Now looking more like AirPods, they’ve got rid of their clamshell charging case and feature AirPod-like stems.
The Galaxy Buds 3 maintain their open-ear design, while adding an IP57 dust and water resistance. They’ll have active noise cancellation, but it’s mostly just a design change. The battery life also stays the same at 5 hours.
The biggest upgrades come to the premium Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. Again with an AirPods-like design, they sit inside your ear, but feature a brand new blade lighting system. That system lets the buds flash when they’re on, shine bright when you’re trying to find them in the dark and flash when they’re in pairing mode.
A real game-changing feature is that Interpreter is coming to the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. You’ll be able to set the buds up to listen to 40 different languages and translate it into your ear in real-time. They also feature Galaxy AI-powered adaptive ANC, which adjusts the level of noise cancellation, as well as changing the tone and equaliser based on the wearing condition.
Call quality has also been improved, with Samsung having trained its database on thousands of sounds, so it knows how to tune those out and focus on just your voice.
The Galaxy Buds 3 and Buds 3 Pro come in silver and white, launch on 24 July and cost £159 and £219 respectively.
